Substandard diabetes care letting people down

Simple measures to improve diabetes care and pick up complications are being ignored leading to “substandard” treatment, a prominent diabetes GP and researcher has said.

Professor Kamlesh Khunti has made the comments in response to the release of the National Diabetes Audit’s core results, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Among people aged under 40, just 27.3 per cent of those with Type 1 diabetes and 40.8 per cent with Type 2 diabetes are receiving all eight annual diabetes care processes recommended by NICE, it has been revealed.

Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes & Vascular Medicine based at the Leicester Diabetes Centre, said: “It is disappointing that younger people are not getting the annual checks which are simple yet can pick up devastating complications early. There are large variations between practices resulting in people receiving substandard care. We are seeing a rise in Type 2 diabetes but this is not just down to an increase in obesity, it is also due to more proactive screening for the condition thanks to health checks.”

The Leicester Diabetes Centre is an international centre of excellence in diabetes research, education and innovation led by Professor Khunti and Professor Melanie Davies. It is a partnership between the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and the University of Leicester. Professor Khunti is also a GP in the city.